Since living in this apartment, I don’t have a good place to store the kids coloring books. For two months now they have looked like this piled up on my kitchen bar:
It’s really not that bad looking, but only because I straightened it all up before I took the picture. If the kids want, lets say an orange sheet of paper, they just yank it right out and the rest of the paper falls all over the floor. Grrr.
A few weeks ago I was strolling through Target and found this awesome basket!
I think it’s suppose to hold a garden hose, but I had a better idea. Or at least that’s what I thought.
I decided to hang it on the wall for all those coloring books! (And I’m embarrassed to admit, these are only the ones I brought with me to LA. They have more back home in Texas.)
Awesome, right? Well, in the end the basket just isn’t quite wide enough so the books don’t fit properly like I’d hoped. Also, far less books than I imagined actually fit inside the basket. Plus, just look at it! It’s a mess!!
I’m going to keep it this way for now because it’s better than the old way at least. I don’t think I’ll use this system long-term though. Maybe at the end of the day I’ll retire this basket where it belongs – on the side of the house for my garden hose.
It has helped with the mess though. I also bought a little do-hicky divider thingy for paper at goodwill of course and stacked all the colored paper in it. Much cleaner looking.
I think I can live with this basket and do-hicky combo until the end of June. After that I can’t wait to create an art/craft area for the kids so they keep my kitchen table clean!
Just found your blog and love it! Love your name too, by the way! 🙂
I live in a too-tiny apartment, too, so I completely understand your predicament! Lovin’ that Target basket. Genius!
What a clever idea! I need to think outside the box more.
you did this before the “making do” post, huh 🙂
Great idea with the basket, I use plastic bins with lids for most of my boys coloring stuff and I gave them one of my kitchen cabinets to put it all in. That do-hickey divider is perfect for keeping those sheets from ending up everywhere.
Visiting from SITS, love the color and design of your blog, energizing!
Smart lady! The 5 of us live in a 750 sq ft duplex and I’m always on the lookout for space saving ideas, thanks for sharing!
I am currently going through the same issue trying to re-organize my papers and books. Thanks for the info!
Oh and I found you on New Friend Friday 🙂
Great idea!
Thanks for joining Get Your Craft on Thursday. Please join me next week for another great party. Don’t forget to stop by and enter my giveaway. I’ll announce the winner at next weeks party!
That certainly is a great storage solution!
I came across your website, i think your blog is awsome, keep us posting.
I had this same predicament and chose to go a different route. I bought this cute brown 3 drawer rolling storage container at Walmart. It’s small, doesn’t take up a lot of space, since it’s brown it’s more classy than the ugly white ones, and it’s perfect for their art supplies. The first drawer is small, so I stick their crayons, markers, pencils, etc. in it. The second and third drawers are much deeper. So the second drawer houses their coloring books and paper and the third drawer contains playdoh and all of the playdoh accessories! I love it. Just thought I’d share my idea. It was super inexpensive, too! I found the container during Fall last year. So, it might come back out again this year! It came in orange, brown, and I think green. I wish they had red, but no such luck! It looks something like this, http://www.walmart.com/ip/3-Bin-Storage-System-White/15940591.